Improvement in manufacture of blanks for cutlery



UNITED NT FFIGE.

OF SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND.

MPROVEMENT IN MANUFACTURE OF BLANKS FOR CUTLERY.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 193,1 15, dated July17, 1877 application filed May 15, 1877.

To all whom it may concern v Be it known that we, OHARLEs GRAY HAL- LAS,FREDERIoK WILLIAM FLOWER, and En- WARD PEARSON, all of Sheffield, in thecounty of York, England, have made certain new and useful improvementsin rolling steel to be used in the manufacture of cutlery, and othersimilar articles required with bolsters or shoulders and we do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to which .itappertains to make and use the same, reference being bad to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

The object of our said invention is to reduce the cost of production ofthe rough blanks of table-cutlery and other similar articles withbolsters or shoulders, by forming the said bolsters or shoulders on suchrough blanks during the process of rolling down the steel to therequired thickness or size, in lieu of the present method of welding aniron bolster onto a steel blank.

In carrying out our invention in order to effect this object, flatgrooves of the required width of the blank are formed round thecircumference of either one or both of an ordinary pair of cast-ironchilled rolls, such groove or grooves corresponding to and regulatingthe thickness of the blank. At one side or edge, or in the bottom ofsuch groove, in the case of rough blanks for table-blades, for example,indentations or counterparts of the bolster or shoulder required aresunk or otherwise formed, at given distances from each other, accordingto the length required between the bolsters or shoulders, one half ofsuch indentations being formed in the top roll, and the correspondinghalf formed in the bottom roll.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like letters indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures, Figure 1 represents a frontelevation of a pair of rolls employed in carrying out our invention.Fig. 2 is a transverse section (drawn to an enlarged scale) of a portionof a pair of rolls of a slightly-modified construction. Figs. 3 and 4represent, respectively, a front and end elevation of one of the saidrolls; and Figs. 5 and 6 represent strips of steel or strings of blanksafter leaving the rolls.

A A are two chilled cast-iron rolls, rotating at equal speed by beinggeared together by the wheels B, keyed or otherwise secured on theiraxles O G, and each provided with gates or shallow grooves D D in theirperipheries, of a width corresponding to the width of a table-knife, forexample, and of a depth equal to one-half, or thereabout, of thethickness of the blade or tang. These grooves may be of equal depththroughout, as shown at a, for

producing blades of rectangular section, or they may be inclined, asshown at b, in order to produce blades of a tapering form insection-that is to say, thinner at the edge than at the back. E E arerecesses or indentations formed in the bottom of the grooves D, of ashape and size corresponding to one-half of the bolster or shoulder, andthat portion of the blade called the neck, the indentations in the pairof rolls being situated at a distance apart equal to the combined lengthof the blade and tang of the knife, and so arranged as that theindentation of the one roll shall coincide or come immediately oppositeto those of the other roll, in order to form the complete bolsters onthe metal passed between them.

In the process of rolling the blanks a bar of steel of a section suitedto that of the blanks to be produced, and of the length. requisite forany required number of blanks, is inserted between the rolls in one ofthe grooves D, and the rolls being in motion such bar is reduced to therequired thickness of the blade, while portions of the metal are forcedinto the recesses or indentations E, thereby forming at suitableintervals the required bolsters or shoulders on the bar, which, uponleaving the rolls, will have assumed the form illustrated by Fig. 5. Thebar'thus formed is then cut up into lengths, each of which forms a bladeor knife-blank, portions being cut away, as shown by the dotted lines atc in Fig. 5, in

order to form the tang and point of the blade.

According to another modification of the rolls, as illustrated by Figs.2, 3, and 4, in lieu of forming indentations in the bottom of thegrooves, as in the modification hereinbefore described, we formlongitudinal grooves E in therolls, at a distance apart equal to therequired distance of the bolsters to be formed on the bar to be rolled.The bar F, Fig. 2, from which the blanks are to be formed,i's firstrolled to an oval or other suitable section and size, according to thedesired pattern of the bolsters to be produced, and is then passedbetween the rolls, which may be provided with grooves round theirperipheries, as in the arran gement hereinbefore described, for the pur-I pose of reducing the bar to the desired thickness of the blades; orthe grooves D may be dispensed with, and the rolls arranged at adistance apart equal to the desired thickness of the blade.

The bar F, as it passes between the rolls, is flattened out by thesmooth portion of the rolls, so as to form the blades and tangs, whilethe longitudinal grooves E being of sufficient 1 depth to clear thethickness of the bar, portions of the said bar will be left at,intervals uncompressed to form the bolsters, the size and shape of whichwill be regulated by the form or pattern of the longitudinal grooves.

The tangs may be either left flat, as shown at d in Fig. 5, or madesquare, as shown at e in Fig. 6; or they may be made of any otherdesired shape.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. The rolls A A, recessed and formed substantially as described, forproducing blanks for table-cutlery, in the manner and for the purposeset forth.

2. A continuous series of the rough blanks for table-cutlery, rolled inone piece, with the bolsters or shoulders at regular intervals, andadapted to be cut up into lengths, substantially as and for the purposesherein shown and set forth.

F. W. FLOWER.

Witnesses:

W. W. WOODHEAD, F. F. HIBBEBT.

